New landlord restrictions announced in Alberta as COVID-19 pandemic continues

EDMONTON --
The province of Alberta is putting new restrictions in place for landlords as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Jason Kenney and Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish announced the measures during a press conference on Friday.

Civil enforcements of evictions will be suspended for a month.

"No one in Alberta will be evicted for non-payment of rent in the month of April," Glubish said.

"Eviction protection will continue thereafter for the duration of the public emergency for tenants who work with landlords to establish meaningful and reasonable partial payment plans."

Evictions of tenants who had not been able to pay rent for the last few months will also be suspended.

In addition, landlords will not be allowed to raise rents while the public state of emergency is in effect and any rent increases that had recently been announced will be frozen until the state of emergency is lifted.

The province also said that landlords would not be allowed to charge late fees for between April 1 and June 30.

"These measures apply not only to traditional tenancies, but also to mobile home tenancies," Glubish said.

The new measures took effect at 1 p.m. on Friday.

"It goes without saying that the economic impacts of COVID-19 is creating stress for many Albertans, including many tenants who are concerned about making their rental payments at the end of the month," Glubish said."These measures are designed to mitigate the impacts."

However, Kenney stressed that he expected that financial relief be used to pay rent.

"Both the renters and the landlords will be obliged to take into account the financial supports they are getting from the federal and provincial governments," he said.

Kenney also stressed that the emergency measures would be voided if a tenant committed a crime or caused damage inside a landlord’s property.

"We want landlords to understand that they can still protect the value of their property from renters who may be breaking the law or damaging their property."